Can what java does be done with other languages?

16 Replies - 5095 Views - Last Post: 12 April 2009 - 10:09 PM

What is java used for?

Posted 07 April 2009 - 09:08 AM

I was wondering, what is java primarily used for? Animation can be done with flash, server side stuff can be done with PHP and ASP and all that. I suppose we do need a language that is cross-platform for application development and web-stuff, so we can have that platform independence when we need it. It can communicate with databases and do networking stuff, but can't that be accomplished with other stuff? I guess its a good thing to have multiple ways to do the same thing, but I'm curious as to the various things that can be done with java and what its niche is as a programming language and on the web.

Don't get me wrong, I like java a lot, especially since its similar to C++ which makes it a lot easier to pick up. I'm career pondering and curious about what role java will play in different situations.

Re: What is java used for?

Posted 10 April 2009 - 03:05 AM

Everything that Java does can be done with another programming language provided you choose the right one. Where Java wins is its vast ability to do quite a few things from desktop apps to dynamic websites to server side apps.

Plus a huge benefit is that Java is the most used language right now and most big corps usually pick it rather than going for the new hot language of the year. Getting a job is usually easier if you know Java.

Re: What is java used for?

Posted 10 April 2009 - 12:18 PM

Purpose of a virtual machine, to allow a language to be developed with a human in mind and independent of the machine it is running on. Think of the virtual machine as an interface that shields the language from the underlying OS and hardware. Remember, virtual machines translate programming code into the PROPER MACHINE LANGUAGE that the computer running it can understand.

There are virtual machines for various platforms and all take the same programming code and will translate it into different machine code for each type of machine it is to be run on.

As for the original question, Rahul is right. Java does everything that any other language can do provided you pick the correct one. But unlike what others have been saying, in fact the power of Java is 2 main things. It is cross platform compliant (primarily so it can run on Sun Microsystems mainframes and such) but the second part is that its a solid language for MOBILE devices. It can have a very small footprint thus run on machines with limited memory capabilities. This makes it perfect for cell phones etc.

Java would be seriously hurting right now if it didn't have such a strong grip on the mobile market. The only competitor is really windows mobile/CE which is still a bit bloated.

But in the overall scheme of things, yes everything that Java does is done by other languages. The same can be said for many other languages. Everything you can do in C# or VB can be done in other languages as well. This overlap is the reason why many vendors are beginning to try and merge languages together into a singular language that can run on virtually any platform.

Proof of this is pointed out by PsychoCoder himself in his thread about C# and VB possibly being merged together here soon. I would estimate that VC++ and C# will be merged very quickly as well.

Re: What is java used for?

Posted 10 April 2009 - 05:56 PM

Martyr2, on 10 Apr, 2009 - 11:18 AM, said:

Purpose of a virtual machine, to allow a language to be developed with a human in mind and independent of the machine it is running on. Think of the virtual machine as an interface that shields the language from the underlying OS and hardware. Remember, virtual machines translate programming code into the PROPER MACHINE LANGUAGE that the computer running it can understand.

There are virtual machines for various platforms and all take the same programming code and will translate it into different machine code for each type of machine it is to be run on.

As for the original question, Rahul is right. Java does everything that any other language can do provided you pick the correct one. But unlike what others have been saying, in fact the power of Java is 2 main things. It is cross platform compliant (primarily so it can run on Sun Microsystems mainframes and such) but the second part is that its a solid language for MOBILE devices. It can have a very small footprint thus run on machines with limited memory capabilities. This makes it perfect for cell phones etc.

Java would be seriously hurting right now if it didn't have such a strong grip on the mobile market. The only competitor is really windows mobile/CE which is still a bit bloated.

But in the overall scheme of things, yes everything that Java does is done by other languages. The same can be said for many other languages. Everything you can do in C# or VB can be done in other languages as well. This overlap is the reason why many vendors are beginning to try and merge languages together into a singular language that can run on virtually any platform.

Proof of this is pointed out by PsychoCoder himself in his thread about C# and VB possibly being merged together here soon. I would estimate that VC++ and C# will be merged very quickly as well.